Archive
A common phrase that used to be heard in Campus Hillel mission statements was: “To maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews.” Yet, as familiar as many of us may be with this formulation, it has today disappeared from nearly all Hillel websites and promotional materials (with a few exceptions). Why? In […]
Students who are in New York City this week should check out a few cool events coming from a range of organizations. Some are free and some cost money, but in my opinion all are worth it: On Sunday at 3 p.m. in Park Slope, Meretz USA is commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin with […]
As students and the rabbinate try to reconcile in Israel proper, violent followers of a Chabad rabbi in the West Bank are attacking military and security personnel. [Failed Messiah] Meanwhile, here’s a guide to how Chabad does its kiruv, or religious outreach, on campus — the final installment of a three-part guide to kiruv. [Frum Satire] A student […]
What value does tradition have? What is added to an action, ritual, or practice from it being something that has been done for 500 years as opposed to 50 years or five years, or compared to starting a new ‘tradition’ altogether? As anyone who has watched Fiddler on the Roof knows – and judging by […]
Jacob Arem had to navigate twisted Damascus streets and approach random old men, but he had finally found it: the last remnants of Syria’s Jewish community. Here is the story of a small but resilient group, determined to hang on to their roots.
Dear Mr. President, I want to thank you for your column in the New York Times today, on the anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. Your exhortation to “take up the cause for which Yitzhak Rabin gave his life” is as pressing now as it was in 1995, and your grounded determination for peace […]
Jewish students are now protected under a law banning racial or ethnic harassment on campus. But will this serve to lessen anti-Semitism, or will it gag speech critical of Israel? [Forward] In the Israeli secular university students’ protests over stipends for Haredi yeshiva students, the country’s chief rabbi sides with… the secular students. [JTA] [JPost] Not all […]
The Dems may be licking their wounds after Tuesday, but the Jews (with the exception of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold and a few others) fared very well during the midterm elections. Senator Barbara Boxer trounced challenger and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in California and Chuck Schumer overwhelmingly reclaimed his Senate seat in New York. Feingold […]
Two Brandeis University student groups, one of them Jewish, will be hosting the school’s first “Israeli Occupation Awareness Week” next week. One of the week’s events will be a speech by Professor Noam Chomsky. Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine, along with the school’s recently founded chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, organized the series […]
“True leaders are not those who strive to be first but those who are first to strive and who give their all for the success of the team. True leaders are the first to see the need, envision the plan, and empower the team for action. By the strength of the leader’s commitment, the power […]